THE DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD FISHES DURING THE FISCAL 



YEAR 1906* 



GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK. 



As shown in the annual reports of the Commissioner, the results of 

 the lish-cultural work of the Bureau of Fisheries tire yearly increas- 

 ing in volume. The number of fish and eg'gs produced in 190<> was 

 172,359,570 more than the output for 1905, and the latter was 250,- 

 000,000 greater than any previous record. The increase during the 

 past 3^ear was particularl}" in Pacific salmons, lake, rainbow, and steel- 

 head trouts, yellow perch, white perch, flatfish, and lobsters. There was 

 an average yield of cod, whitefish, and pike perch, and the shad plants 

 even slightly exceeded those of the previous year, so successful was the 

 hatching of the meager collections. The number of shad eggs taken, 

 however, was the smallest in the history of the culture of this fish, 

 falling as low as 212,000 in the Delaware River, which was formerly 

 among the most prolific shad streams. Conspicuous decline appeared 

 likewise in the Susquehanna and the Potomac; only in the Albemarle 

 region was there any increase, and here the collections quadrupled 

 those of the previous year — a most significant record in view of the 

 fact that this was the first season of enforcement of a new state law 

 regulating fishing in the waters below the mouths of shad streams. 

 The immense and increasing numbers of seines and pound nets all 

 along the coast in recent years have captured such great quantities of 

 shad that few were left to reach the spawning grounds or to furnish 

 eggs for the hatcheries — a condition becoming more and more marked, 

 and doubly serious because this fisher}^ has for man}" years owed its 

 existence to artificial propagation of the species. 



SPECIES CULTIVATED AND DISTRIBUTED." 



The fish-cultural work in 1906 dealt with the following species: 



The catfishes (Silurid^): 



* § Spotted cat, blue cat, channel cat {Idaluruf pundatus) . 

 *§ Horned pout, bullhead, yellow cat ( Ameiurus nehulosus) . 

 * Marbled cat {Ameiurus nehulosus marmoratus). 

 § Black cat [Ameiurus melas). 



«The fishea artificially propagated are designated thus, *; those simply collected 

 and distributed, thus, §; those propagated as food for other fishes, thus, t; those 

 propagated for ornamental purposes, thus, J; and introduced species, thus, ||. 



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